Ohio households make less money than national average

With about 1.8 million Ohioans living below the poverty threshold, people in the Buckeye State were more likely to live in poverty than the average American, according to 2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimates released this week.

The percentage of Ohioans living in poverty — 16 percent in 2013 — was essentially unchanged from 2012’s rate of 16.3 percent, according to the 2013 American Community Survey, which surveyed 3.54 million people to provide estimates for areas with a population of 65,000 people or more. Several thresholds were used to measure poverty, such as $11,888 for one person or $23,624 for a family with two adults and two children.

That’s similar to the nationwide trend. This was the second consecutive year without a statistically significant change in the poverty rate. The rate hasn’t decreased since between 2006 and 2007, according to analysis from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Poverty rates tend to be higher in urban areas and in Appalachian Ohio, according to the 2014 Ohio Poverty Report released in February. Among Ohio’s 39 counties with more than 65,000 people, Scioto County had the highest poverty rate with nearly one in four residents living below census bureau thresholds. Medina County had the lowest at 5.8 percent.

“Ohio’s made great progress in the past three years, but we’re clearly not out of the woods yet and anyone who thinks we are is mistaken,” said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich.

The Ohio Association of Foodbanks is asking Kasich and legislators to fund food banks with $20 million a year. Even five years after the Great Recession, some families still struggle to obtain nutritious food on a consistent basis, according to the association’s news release.

Ohio’s median household income did increase by more than 1 percent to $48,081 in 2013, according to census bureau estimates. The median household income nationwide was $52,250, but states ranged from $72,483 in Maryland to $37,963 in Mississippi.

“The state’s recovery has been excruciatingly slow and even slower for those in poverty,” workforce researcher Hannah Halbert said in a news release. But Kasich’s spokesman disagrees.

“The jobs-friendly policies we’ve enacted in the past three and a half years are clearly working, evidenced by the fact that Ohioans have created nearly a quarter million private-sector jobs under our watch after losing 350,000 when Policy Matters’ people and policies were in charge,” Nichols said.

The census bureau also released information about the median home value in Ohio, which was $127,000 in 2013 — slightly down from 2012.

The data also included the percent of individuals uninsured in 2013, which was about 11 percent. Ohio’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility did not take effect until this year.

jbalmert@gannett.com

740-328-8548

Twitter: @jbalmert

Poverty in 2013

County

Poverty rate

Percent uninsured

Median household income

Change from previous year

Median home value

Change from previous year

Fairfield County

12.5 percent

8.5 percent

$56,286

-7.1 percent

$155,600

-3.2 percent

Licking County

10.2 percent

9.7 percent

$54,875

4.9 percent

$146,100

-0.6 percent

Marion County

14.5 percent

12.4 percent

$41,849

-2.7 percent

$96,400

-2.9 percent

Muskingum County

21.4 percent

11.2 percent

$39,212

-0.1 percent

$96,800

-5.9 percent

Richland County

17.6 percent

14.4 percent

$39,455

-5.3 percent

$101,400

4.8 percent

Ross County

19.1 percent

12.6 percent

$40,493

-5.7 percent

$106,000

0.3 percent

Statewide

16 percent

11 percent

$48,081

2.7 percent

$127,000

-0.5 percent

Source: U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, one-year estimates